The Tiger of the Hidden Grass (Naruto Fanfic) [Dropped]

Part 5

"Listen up," Anko-Sensei calls. "All the teams have received their scrolls, so everyone, go to your gate and wait there! When the gates open, then the test is on!" Everyone moves off in either direction, and we end up one gate down from Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto.

"Uh, Koto? Isn't the number thirteen supposed to be...unlucky?" Amaya gulps. I pay her on the back.

"Don't be silly, Amaya. Thirteen is my lucky number." I wink at her, and she relaxes. The guard turns and unlocks the door, glancing at the watch on his wrist. We ready ourselves, and I grind my foot into the dirt slightly.

"Ready, girls?" I ask, and they nod, all of us looking directly at the gate. The guard steps to the side and the gates swing open, but we're already gone, racing through the trees. Within five minutes, we had located Naruto's team.

I hold Maria back from jumping in. "Wait. Tora-Sensei said that she didn't want them to fail so soon. And," I say, activating my kekkei genkai, "they have a Heaven scroll. We don't need to fight them."

Maria lowers the kunai she was holding. "Fine. Let's move on, then." Ignoring a scream that rings out, we jump into the trees, searching for a team with an Earth scroll. Thankfully, Amaya notices a team of Rain ninja on the ground just below the tree we were in.

"It's an Earth scroll," I say, checking. "The one with his forehead protector around his neck has it in his jacket pocket." Before I could jump down onto one of them, Maria grabs my arm.

"Hold on." She pulls a kunai from her weapons pouch and throws it at the tree across from us. The Rain shinobi hear the rustling and immediately pelt the area around the sound with shuriken and kunai. "They're hypersensitive right now. You jump down and you'll get yourself killed."

"What do you suggest we do, then?" I snap at her.

"Hey," Amaya says comfortingly. "Calm down, Koto. How about we send down Maria's water clones disguised as ourselves, then we can sneak behind them and take them out?"

"Alright," I say, nodding my head. "That sounds good. Let's do it." Maria creates three water clones, two of which Amaya then transforms to look like us. We tell them the plan and send them down. While the Rain ninja are distracted by our clones, which we carefully instructed to stay active as long as possible, we snuck behind them.

"Genjutsu: Infinite Darkness Jutsu," I mumble, forming several hand signs. The Rain Genin freeze for a moment, then begin yelling.

"Hey! What happened?"

"What? But none of them made any hand signs!"

"Dude, they must have been clones!"

"Ah, so you finally figured it out," Maria says, appearing behind them. Before they can react, she chops the backs of their necks, successfully knocking them out. She grabs the Earth scroll as the clones turn back into water.

"Ah," I sigh, stretching. "It's been a while since I used that genjutsu."

"Hm, you're right. When was the last time you used it?" Maria asks, joining us as we jumped back into the trees.

"When we went on that S-rank mission with Tora-sensei, right? The one with the prisoner that escaped from Kusa's Maximum Security Prison?" Amaya responds, leaping from branch to branch.

"Oh, yeah! I remember that one. They had all available ninja working on getting him back. That was the mission that we proved ourselves as kunoichi on," I say, thinking back on it. We reach the tower after a forty minute delay.

Stupid directional skills! Of course, I'd never admit that out loud...

I open one of the sets of double doors, breaking the seal that had been tapped between them. Stepping inside and closing the doors behind us, we glance around. We stand in an empty room with a balcony to either side. Glancing at the wall between the upper floors, I see a sign.

"'If qualities of Heaven are what you desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever. This...something is the secret way that guides us from this place today,'" I read aloud.

"What do you mean, 'something?'" Maria asks.

"It's like...there's a word missing. I don't know," I respond, shaking my head.

"Heaven and Earth... You guys!" Amaya yells. "It's talking about the scrolls! We're supposed to open them!"

"Are you sure, Amaya?" I ask, turning to her.

"Yes, I'm positive. Hand me a scroll, Maria." Maria pulls the scrolls from her weapons pouch, and hands Amaya the Earth scroll.

"On three," I say, and they nod. "One..."

"Two..." Maria says.

"Three!" Amaya yells, and they rip the scrolls open. We stare at the symbols for a minute before they sink in. "Maria, toss it! It's a summoning scroll!"

They throw the scrolls, and we jump into fighting stances as a cloud of smoke bursts outward from the now-crossed papers. The smoke clears, and a Leaf shinobi wearing a flak jacket stands with his hands in his pockets.

"Hello, Team Tora. I am Daikoku Funeno, a Chunin of the Hidden Leaf. I am here to welcome you back from the second phase of the Chunin Exam, and also to explain a few things. First thing's first," the man says, smiling at us and pointing at the writing on the wall, "those are instructions that the Third Hokage recorded as principles that Chunin should follow. Heaven represents the mind, while Earth represents the body. Make sense?"

"Of course," Amaya responds, nodding. "It's basically saying that if you lack in intellect, you have to be sure to gather all the knowledge that you can to be a better shinobi."

"Yeah, and if you're physically weak, you have to train every day to ensure you improve," I add.

"So if both mind and body work as one, a dangerous mission can become easy," Maria finishes.

"Yes, very good," the Chunin responds. "The blank spot in the last sentence is meant for you to fill in yourselves. These five days, or hour and forty minutes for you guys, were meant to test your abilities as Chunin to see if you'd be any good at it. A Chunin is a leader and a guide. It is their job to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of those working under them, and to know what training those ninja are going to need to succeed on a mission."

"So this phase tested our leadership...?" Amaya trails off, going back to her thoughts.

"Yes, for the most part. Your team has passed this phase with flying colors as you are the second squad to arrive. Good luck in the third exam." The Chunin nods, then poofs away. As soon as I was sure he was gone, I turned to my teammates.

"Guys!" I yell, jumping up and down while grinning. "We passed! Oh, my gosh, we made it to the third exam!" Amaya smiles, and Maria rolls her eyes before smiling ever-so-slightly.